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Today I had the honor of watching Pam Swan set a new Masters American Woman's Record for her age group, Soaring over 9ft 7in at the University of Southern Maine Field House. She will soon be the first American Woman over 40 to clear 10ft, as she just barely brushed 10ft 1in on her best attempt at the hieght.
Congrats Pam!

Uh, I think Nadine O'Connor and Phil Raschker may beg to differ on "first woman over 40 over 10 feet" contention.

The W40 age-group record was very soft, though:
http://www.usatf.org/statistics/records ... le%20vault

K E N

Well it appears I stand corrected, on her being the first woman over 10ft. Just something I had overheard from officials. But I do believe she is 43, giving her the national record. No matter what I was impressed for a woman to do that at 43 after jumping for just 3 or 4 years.

Congratulations to Lynn. The 10 foot mark is a good goal and I hope she gets it soon. Donna Schutlz, who I believe is 45+ just cleared 2.95 or 9'7" in Reno. I think she has cleared 10 feet outdoors. Also, I know that Sue Di Marco, 40+, has also cleared 10 feet. We were jumping together at a Home Depot meet and I helped her with the record paper work. Unfortunately, I have never seen that mark listed.

Pam Swan wrote me a note today, clearing up some confusion:

I read with some amusement, that I apparently broke the existing American PV record at Reno this past weekend! Although I would have LOVED to have been at the PV Summit, I was not, so the report is erroneous. I did vault however, in an Open college meet at the University of Southern Maine on Saturday, and did clear 2.92m (9-7.25) which bests the “officialâ€Â

Oops! Should be "congratulations Pam!"

I am a broken record regarding records recognized. However, I have found the current record's person Sandy Pashkin to be very responsive and helpful. If you need help, contact her or myself, and I will gladly share what I have learned.

Sadly, I can no longer share the thrill of vaulting and going higher than before as I don't have a place to practice. I think this is a familiar story of most master vaulters. I am now trying to "vault" the hurdles, which I find difficult to do without my stick and with the worry of landing on the track, rather than the wonderful old soft mattress-like pit.

You should have been in Reno this year when we were trying to cobble together the right equipment and personnel to give Paul Babbits a fair shot. We came SO CLOSE to blowing it . . .


Edited to remove incorrect name